Chip carving basics

Chip carving decorates a flat surface with small, precise cuts that pop out triangular chips of wood. It needs one knife, a pencil, a ruler and a board of even-grained wood, and it makes patterns that look complicated from a few repeated cuts. A plain board becomes a decorated box lid, plate, frame or panel.

The tool

A chip carving knife has a short blade set at an angle to the handle, often about 30 degrees of bevel, with a point that cuts into the wood and an edge that follows the line. A stab knife, with a thicker, straight blade, is a common alternative that cuts with the point held vertical. The tools glossary describes both. The edge must be keen enough to slice across the grain without crushing, because a dull knife leaves fuzz on the chip walls, and the cut will look ragged. A strop and honing compound keep it in trim between sessions.

The wood

Choose a wood with fine, even grain that cuts cleanly in every direction. Basswood is the standard: it is pale, soft and uniform, with little difference between spring and summer growth. Butternut is a second choice, a little darker and slightly more textured. Pine can be used, but has soft and hard bands that make one wall of a chip smooth and the other rough. The carving woods database lists the hardness, grain and ease for each species and links to the general woods database. The board should be dry and flat, about 1/2 inch thick or more, and sanded smooth before layout.

The three-corner chip

The three-corner chip is the building block. It is a small triangular pyramid cut into the surface, with three walls that meet at a point below the surface. Start with a triangle drawn in pencil, about 1/4 to 3/8 inch on a side.

1. Place the knife tip at one corner, tilted toward the centre of the triangle at about 65 degrees to the surface.
2. Push the tip down to the depth of the centre point, and draw the blade along the side of the triangle to the next corner. Make a clean, single cut with the blade leaning inward.
3. Rotate the board so the next side faces you, and repeat from the same corner.
4. Make the third cut, from the third corner toward the centre, the same way.
5. The chip lifts out cleanly when all three walls meet at the bottom.

If the chip does not release, one wall is not cut all the way to the centre. Put the knife back into the first cut and follow the wall deeper, rather than levering the chip out, which leaves a torn edge.

Depth and angle

The walls of a chip should lean at the same angle on every cut, about 65 degrees from the surface for a neat pyramid. A steeper wall gives a deeper chip with a dark shadow; a shallower angle gives a wide shallow chip. Consistency matters more than any particular angle, because a row of chips of varying depth looks uneven, while a row of the same depth reads as a pattern.

Straight-line and curved chips

Straight-line chip. Two long angled cuts remove a narrow V-shaped strip. It makes borders, lines and lettering. Cut from the ends of the strip inward, so the cuts meet at the bottom and the strip lifts out whole. For a deep border, make the cuts in two passes.

Curved chip. The walls follow an arc. The knife rolls through the cut, and the blade follows the curved line, angled inward. Curved chips make rosettes, leaves and flowing patterns. Take it slowly, with the pattern drawn on the wood, and keep the blade angle steady on the curves.

Laying out a pattern

Draw a grid in pencil with a ruler: squares of 1/2 inch make a good start. Draw triangles within the squares. A common border is a row of triangles with points alternating up and down. Rosettes come from a compass drawing with six arcs. Before cutting, go over the pencil lines lightly and check the repeat. A drawn pattern that looks uneven on paper will look worse in wood.

Many patterns use a mix of the three-corner chips as a field, straight chips as a frame, and curved chips as accents. A single piece can use a border, a centre design and a series of small corner chips.

Working across the grain

Wood has a long-grain direction and a cross-grain direction. A chip has walls in both, and the walls along the grain are cut more smoothly than those across it. On a difficult piece, find the wall that tears, and cut it from the opposite end. A keen knife and a shallow angle reduce tearing. If a wall still breaks away, use the stop cut: a vertical cut at the corner made first, so the following cut ends cleanly at it and does not split past. The cuts database has the stop cut and the other basic knife cuts.

Finishing

Brush away the crumbs. A coat of clear oil or a thin coat of shellac brings out the wood and shows the pattern. Oil darkens the chip walls, which increases the contrast between the lit and shaded faces. Stain is uncommon, since it obscures the light play that makes the chips work. The finishes database in the woodworking craft lists oils and sealers with their look and drying times.

Common faults